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"The Taxidermist" DLC For Heavy Rain Arrives April 1

Heavy Rain is one of the most impressive - and surprisingly addictive - games of the generation thus far, and if you wish to expand on the experience, make sure you grab the first piece of downloadable content.

Today, Sony has revealed that the first DLC pack, known as "The Taxidermist," will hit the PlayStation Network on April 1. It will retail for the standard $4.99 and although most of you have already solved the mystery of the Origami Killer, you'll probably want to learn more about one of the characters. This first bit of DLC focuses on journalist Madison Paige, and centers on one of her early investigations that initially puts her on the trail of the highly disturbed and tortured killer. If you want, you can catch a quick glimpse of footage over at GameSpot but if you're a fan, you'll likely just want to wait until the 1st. "The Taxidermist" is only the first of several pieces of add-on content; Quantic Dream has said in the past that they'll release additional stories for each of the major characters. Personally, I'm most interested in Madison because her role - especially early on - in the plot was somewhat fuzzy. How did she get on to Ethan? ...er...you know what I mean.

Anyway, for those of you who loved Heavy Rain, this is likely a day one purchase. And it ain't because Madison has a "back story" that rivals that of Chloe and Bayonetta...or is it?

Comments (47 posts)

i wonder why they can't add it all up into the disc... costin us 4.99 to DL their ADD-ONs... the game is already 59.99 =( but great game...but these add-ons should be FREE we already brought the game sigh..

Let me preface this by saying I am not trying to be rude or a jerk here.

That said, why do you think that add-ons should be free? Do you have a job, and if you do would you want your boss to tell you to work for free because he already paid you once?

I fully agree that some DLC should be free, like with ACII when they released chapter 12 and 13 and you needed it for the full story but this is purely extra and not story sensitive. Extra stuff should cost money IMO because the developers are still working to bring you something beyond the experience and they still have to eat and pay bills you know.

Anyway I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, I just feel like when people work they deserve money.

actually, this seems like it should also be part of the main story. if what ben was saying is true, then madison's back story shouldnt be a paid dlc since it sheds light on why madison, one of the main character, is in the game. although i havent started the game yet, just too much games i bought and have to play right now.

Anyway, if you wait until all are released, sony will probably sell them as a bundle or you can just wait till they put the dlc in their 50% off deals every week.

i still am trying to find the line between dlc worth paying for, and not worth paying for. burnout horded out dlc, but some was free, and some wasn't but worth it.mirrors edge dlc, that was cheap, so it was worth it.mw2 map pack, £10? hell no! too much for five maps. im gd thanx.Hevy rain dlc, if its long enough, i'll pay. i think the dlc should be worth the price. the fallout dlc was £10, but it added loadds more to the story and game, so it was worth it.

The Taxidermist really isn't canon to the story though. It doesn't lead into why Madison is really there it is just something that she did before the events of the game took place. It really is just a little extra gameplay which is really well done and dark in atmosphere but you're not going to be missing out on anything if you forego buying it.

Coverton, I brought this up way back when, and my tune hasn't changed. This DLC was announced even before the game got released. This is a bad precedence.

Businesses are all looking at getting more of our money, and trying to find out ways to do it. This is what we can all expect moving forward, developers will have meetings centered around what is the minimum that we can put into our game, and what can we leave out so that we can charge extra for as DLC down the road a couple of months.

You say that they should get paid for the work they have done? Well hell yes they should, and in this case everybody ponied up their 60 bucks. If they come up with an idea after the game is released, and want to develop it, and release it, then great. But there is something slimy about this business practice that I am seeing here, and I do not like it.

Of course there won't always be a way to know if the developer is being sneaky, but in this case and with ACII, it reaks.

I wish Quantic could have at least humored us and waited a few months after the game released, and said "hey fans, we know you all love this game, and so do we. Our developers have so many ideas and directions they want to add to this game, and we have decided to give you more of the back story! If you are willing to extend this story even furthor along with us, then all we ask is $4.99."Last edited by MyWorstNightmar on 3/22/2010 5:57:42 PM

I thought about the spoilers tag but I didn't really think I eluded to anything other than the DLC being extra. If I let something go that I shouldn't have I apologise.

EDIT: I get what you are saying Nightmare. Yeah it is a bit of a jerk around that they had the DLC for HR right when the game came out but I see that bit of DLC as a pre-order bonus. If you pre-order you get it for free if you wait you have to pay. Do I like that business practice? No not really, but the developer might have had a deal with outlets or whatnot behind the scenes. In this case I don't so much as see it as trying to weasel all the money they can out of the consumer. I do see the ACII thing as just that though. I mean the memories were right there staring at you taunting you laughing about being locked until you ponied up more cash. That is underhanded and slimy to no end. In the case of this maybe they could have made this back story unlockable but the rest of the episodes are likely not completed yet and would have delayed the game without adding anything of substance to the story of the game.

Game development is a team sport. There is a bunch of people working on any game and pretty much by the time the 3D modellers get to work, the guys responsible for the stories are free to explore new ideas.

And all the people working in this game studio come to work day in and day out and expect to be paid every single month. So they have to work on something while waiting for the game to release.

Another thing is that it's not like the developer finishes the game on Monday so we have it on store shelves on Tuesday. It all takes time. There is the publisher to be considered. There is the time frame - not to many AAA games in any given time. Just a few months ago Capcom announced, that they will push a few of their titles towards the end of this year and beginning of the next, because of the market saturation. And they already had these games ready for release in January.

The Taxidermist Scene was what drawed me into Heavy Rain a couple of years ago, it could be concidered short, its about the lenght of a normal HR scene. but there is replay value. I'm curious to what the other episodes will be.

I got this as a pre-order bonus from amazon and I can say that it is a bit on the short side but it has multiple ways it can be played (obviously) and it is worth 5 bucks. The whole game is really grade A stuff and if you are one of those that feels like you should have a full game without the addition of DLC to see it all then you will be happy to know that you don't need to spend a dime on this to have the full Heavy Rain experience, as this is purely icing.

Also, yes it sucks that DLC costs money but in the case of purely additional DLC I don't see the problem. Maybe it is because I am a software guy that makes me realise that it costs time and patience to make this stuff. I don't agree with practices like Assassin's Creed II where they take out story canon and then make you pay more for it but when it is purely superfluous I have no problem paying for it.

Think of it like this. If you have a job, and you go to work the first week of the month and get a paycheck you wouldn't find it very fair to go in the second week and have your boss tell you that you already got paid so this week is on you. Maybe it's a bad analogy but seriously when a game comes out and is fully done and they add something yeah they should get paid.

It is purely add on so you aren't missing anything as way of story. The look of it is just as beautifully done as the game itself. I believe it has about 5 or 6 endings, I could be wrong either direction on that though. To play through all the endings would take a little more than an hour probably, but I can't honestly remember how long it took me as once I start playing HR time can just disappear and I never realise it.

I personally would have put out the 5 bucks for it if I didn't get as a pre-order thing. Just don't get it expecting to have something that is going to keep you going for hours on end.

Got it as a freebie for preordering it and loved it, its short but, more scary than anything else on the full game :)That said thou,I think this was part of the story early on and they decided to cut it and release latter as a DLC... I remember this was the first footage of the game we say way back so, hard to say if I should feel ripped off or not, but since I got it for free, I liked it a lot.Will surely consider the next ones coming out.

Seriously, all the episodes should be packaged in a $10 package because I played the first DLC (pre-order) and it is very short, but it is worth the $5 dollars, but come on, Heavy Rain wasn't even that long and their is no reason why the backstories weren't unlockables. Yes the game has replay value, but a $60, you should give avid buyers a complete product. The DLC trend is getting out of hand and a little pretentious. Just release complete products, and if you do want to keep a happy fan base, provide free DLC. How does QD want to provide an experience like no other, but end up producing a stripped product. You already got $60 for a short product, give us more gaming for our money without the expense of exploiting the buyer and the DLC trend...Seriously. Either way, I still loved Heavy Rain, but this DLC pricing instead of unlockables is irritating to say the least.

Why it's addictive is quite relevant when you spend $60 based on a recommendation from someone who claims a game is addictive only to find out that what he feels is "addictive" elements are actually quite annoying to you.

just kidding.i probably would pay a fiver for a bit more, but i've got a lot on my plate. heavy rain and gow3 just for starters, plus some fallout dlc i haven't touched, or uchrtd2, not to mention the ffact that im always on mw2 coz owning is fairly fun! i nd to get away from that game.Last edited by Zorigo on 3/22/2010 3:04:37 PM

*HEAVY RAIN SPOILERS*Saw the entire playthrough of it on the internet a few months ago-I believe it explains why madison has insomnia.

I'm very curious about what they are planning to do with DLC related to ethan(he was my favorite character).I saw reviews complaining that Ethans black outs are never explained;wouldn't it be cool if you could play as ethan during these black outs?

Anywho I'm not sure I'll get it,more uncharted 2 DLC is coming on april 1st so i can't wait.Talking about addictive uncharted 2 is my drug(wonder if naughty dog has a rehab program...)Last edited by XxNoir on 3/22/2010 3:46:00 PM

I'm much too in love with 'Heavy Rain' to pass on ANY additional content Quantic puts out there.And the reviews I've read have actually been quite encouraging (even the few negative ones, since they didn't seem to like elements of 'The Taxidermist' that are parts of the main game which I loved). Most seem to peg the time for a single playthru at 15 minutes, but with 5 different endings. That right there lets me know I'm going to put quite a lot of time into this.

When it comes to the discussion of should we pay or should it be free, in all reality it depends on how the dlc is handled.

If developers develop the game to be a full and complete game, release it, and then say, "What can we do now?" Determine they should develop some dlc, work on it, and then offer it to the public. I believe we should pay for it. They performed extra work and thus deserve extra pay.

However if a dev makes a game with all kinds of elements and then subtracts certain elements from the game and sells them for extra on release day. It's pretty obvious they are trying to gouge us for all we're worth and that content should be free.

For example, selling me a shooter, but telling me I can only get some of the guns from dlc on release day is ridiculous.

Creating entirely new levels, with new stories after the game was released. This is acceptable.

Just don't sell me a car and then after I've paid, tell me if I want tires for it I can buy those too.

i was really disappointed with the DLC, thank god i did not pay for it otherwise id be really pissed!whats there is decent, far to predictable for my liking but eh its okay.but its so freaking short, took me like 10 minutes to finish it.i thought it was going to be like a expansion pack like what fallout 3 got, something to last me a good half hour or so.if sony think ill pay for the other releases they better beef up the length otherwise they can kiss my cash goodbye!

I also received this free for my preorder. 5 bucks really isnt alot of money for what you will "feel" during this DLC, I would have paid it. Its short, but pretty damn sweet....Its fun to show it to people who havent seen or played HR. I enjoyed this DLC.

Yes yes yes its "short", but there are 5 different endings, 3 of which I havent even gotten yet..and Ive played the episode about 3 or 4 times now just doing different things.Last edited by Psylight on 3/23/2010 10:02:57 AM